Different Slants

(copyright May 1, 2011)

This new poem was inspired by, and written expressly for Rabbi Debra Nesselson.

Watching her blossom over the last year from being a relatively quiet figure heard from the bimah only occasionally, to becoming the voice and face of B’nai Torah Congregation to the world, has fascinated me.  She is her own fairy-tale.

Today, Friday June 10, 2011 Debra Nesselson becomes a Rabbi for the rest of her life.

Her choosing to leave behind a career as a lawyer after spending seven years to become that, to spending another eight years transforming herself into a Rabbi so she could understand the law in a far more fundamental way, means Debra has spent fifteen years to get to where she is today.

More than a quarter of her entire life.

How many people would ever consider doing such a thing?  Very few.
Maybe we didn’t know what we had in our new Rabbi before today, but we certainly do now.

Here’s my poem to celebrate her new role in this important Jewish institution.
If anyone deserves a poem to contemplate their lives, it’s Debra Nesselson. 

(First Unexpected Note: Rabbi Nesselson left our temple two months later. Not all things make sense, but what I wrote about Rabbis remains what I believe. I still respect and care very much about Debra Nesselson.

(2nd Unexpected Note) After a tumultuous period of temple politics over philosophy, and a merry-go-round of different rabbis, my sixty-year-old temple with its 750 families closed almost exactly three years after I first posted this poem, on June 30, 2014. A tragedy.  This note was amended on September 24th, 2014, just before the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.  I remain friends with and infinitely respect Rabbi Nesselson who is an unaffiliated rabbi who celebrates marriages, births, deaths and any other circumstances where people want a real rabbi.)

A Rabbi

Doesn’t have all the answers

But

With a thousand other

Contentious Rabbis’

Arguments

Ricocheting thru the Centuries

and

Ringing in her Ears

She probably has more

Good Choices

To pick from

Than you do

***

A Rabbi is no Magician

But

She can take ordinary things:

An elevated stage

A prayer shawl

Some rolled parchment

A laying on of her hands

Some very ancient incantations

And somehow create

Distinct and Immortal Moments

For Ordinary People

***

Einstein

Might have said

The Formulae for

A good Rabbi

A compassionate Rabbi

A perceptive Rabbi

Would be:

R=Teacher, squared

***

A Rabbi can’t mend a broken heart

But

She can hold it

Shelter it

Let time slow down

So a Person

A Family

Can steady themselves

And then

Give it back to them

Ready to go on

***

A committed Rabbi

A gifted Rabbi

Makes us feel

The gentle waters

Rocking Moses’ cradle

As he floats to his

Unimaginable Destiny

But can also

Skillfully Inflict us today

The Free Descendants

With

The shimmering African Heat

The sharp grit of Desert Sands

and the

Deeply Cutting Fury of the Lash

On the backs of

The Hebrew Slaves of Egypt

***

A Rabbi of Distinction

Can invoke

The Lightening, the Rumble

And the

Mystery of Sinai

To help us comprehend

The Unique Mystique

And

Eternal Burden

Of being “Chosen”

***

Chosen:

Not an honor

But an accepted

Responsibility

To bring light

Unto the nations

No wonder

No one else

Wanted the honor

When it was offered

To them, first

As the ancient story goes

***

A Rabbi

Who listens

Considers

Weighs Risk and Benefit

Embodies Resolve

Can move

Ordinary People

To make a United Stand

When the Times demand it

***

Such a Rabbi

Can take Bricks

Glass and Stone and Wood

And create

A Community of Jews

A Temple of Learning

And just possibly add

Her own Voice

To the Centuries

May we here today, be so Blessed

*********************

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